Flower Crowns & Feelings
by queenofowls
Summary: Dedue Molinaro is tired of being bossed around. He's tired of getting in trouble. And most importantly, he's tired of his newly extended family, turning his life upside down. If only there was something they could do to make him see that they're not as bad as they seem... If only. [Set before the Tragedy of Duscur.]


**Set five years before the Tragedy of Duscur. ****This story is set when Dedue was ten years old.**

**/Written for Dedue Week | Day 1 Prompt: Nature/**

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"Duey!" He hears his name hisses from beside him and... promptly ignores it, turning his body to block his ears immediately. With all of the precociousness of a seven year old child, Dedue's younger cousin shakes his shoulder persistently. A second, almost identical voice follows.

"Dedue, get up already- I know you're not asleep anymore!" He pops open a single eye, brows furrowed as he hisses back quietly.

"Plesia. Rindell. I'm trying to sleep." He's grumpier than usual, he knows, but... it's been less than a year since his cousins have come to live with his small family and Dedue has never been so tired in his life. _Everywhere_ he goes, he feels as though the other people in the small mountain town of Cuenca remind him that his life has been shaken up-and not in a way that he is sure that he enjoys.

Ever since his aunt and uncle brought their daughters up to Cuenca and asked his parents if they could care for them until the unrest at Faerghus' border settled down, his life has not been the same.

_"I hope you're keeping your cousins out of trouble, Dedue."_ As if it's _his_ fault that they're a bunch of troublemakers, just because he's older than them.

_"Make sure to give this to your cousins, Dedue."_ As if _he's_ only there to run errands for them.

_"Tell your father that one of your cousins let my cows out of their pens again, Dedue."_ _"Dedue, your cousin owes me two eggs! Tell her to not to forget to replace them!" "Dedue, your cousin won't give back my neck scarf and Mama keeps asking me where I lost it and I'm scared to tell her that I lent it to-"_

_Everywhere_ he goes, there are reminders of the new, sudden additions in his family-constantly underfoot is Linza and her constant sulking when she's supposed to be the oldest of her sisters! The twins standing in front of him now, causing trouble like they always are-he still hasn't forgiven them for hiding his clothes while he was bathing in the river-and then Taran, always hiding no matter what, except for when it happened to be dinner time, not to mention the youngest set of twins-Gracina and her always talking, talking, talking his ear off, and Nestra, who _never_ does her own chores and instead tries to escape to play by the river instead...

The least troublesome is the baby, Gioia, and he's certain it's because she's barely two years old. If she were older, however... he shivers. Who knows what havoc she could unleash?

After all, it's the two-year old's illness that deprives him of his mother's cooking and his mother's kiss while she and Chiara are in the capital seeking out a doctor for her illness.

If only just their personalities were the end of his troubles. He is only ten years old, but he has never prepared so many meals in his life. His father makes breakfast and dinner, so he is only responsible for lunch while his father works in the smithy but... right now _especially_, he is sleepy, and with his mother supposedly returning in the morning... he really wants to night to end so that he can at least see her serious eyes and warm smile.

Seeing the complicated expressions crossing his face in the moonlight, Rindell's voice shifts guiltily for a moment. "Duey?" Unfortunately, he feels his resistance melting at the soft orange of her eyes. "Please don't get mad." He fights the urge to give in-and as hard as it is in that moment, it doesn't stay difficult for long.

Not when, by contrast, Plesia, the youngest of the older set of twins, taunts him. "Your dad says you have to be nice to us, remember?"

A frown touches his lips. Rindell pouts at her younger sister, and for a moment, Plesia's grin and Rindell's pout... the mirrored expressions remind him of masks that he has seen in the marketplace.

"Stop teasing, Plesia, or else he won't come." Rindell pats his shoulder again. "Just follow us, okay?" She's nicest of the two, but he doesn't miss the mischief that always seems to light her eyes. "You don't have a choice anyway." Dedue frowns more deeply, glancing across the room to the space where his parents normally sleep on one side. In it, there is only one solid shape, and from it, his father's quiet breathing is barely audible.

He is briefly grateful that neither his sister isn't there-and for good reason. Chiara is a light sleeper, and she would've certainly thrown a fit if she heard them speaking as they are now. There's no movement from his father's corner, nor from where his other cousins and sister sleep. He shakes his head in earnest.

"You guys are crazy. Me and Chiara aren't allowed to go out when the door's shut for the night." Plesia sticks out her tongue, then tugs at his hand.

"Don't be a baby, Duey." He pulls his hand away and tries to make his voice stern, summoning the energy of his mother when she wants them to obey without question.

"_No._ Whatever you're thinking can't be good, and I don't wan't you to get hurt." He mutters under his breath, pulling his hand away. "I'll get in trouble if you do."

Rindell smiles. "Duey. Auntie Renata comes home tomorrow, and we just thought we should do something special for her. Meet us in the meadow by the forked tree, alright?" She pulls away and flits out of the door before he can protest anymore. If he thought that it would be a bad thing if they got hurt, it would be worse if his parents find out he let them go out alone. Resisting the urge to sigh for fear of it waking his sleeping family, Dedue slowly pulls himself out of the blankets. Right away, he hears a quiet rustling as one of his cousins sits up sleepily.

"Duey?" He hears the small voice of one of his younger cousins. "Are you going out?" It's Taran. He nods silently as across the room, able to see the silhouette of her thumb in her mouth even at this distance. "Can I come too?"

"No, you go back to sleep, okay? I'm just going to bring back your big sisters. Don't wake up my dad, okay?"

He sees her nod meekly. "Okay." Vaguely unsure whether or not she'll say or not, he slips through the door and into the post-midnight air.

Dedue mutters under his breath. "Why are Rindell and Plesia always getting me in trouble...?" He follows along the well-worn path from the back of their house to the flower fields. He wades through the strips of pale pink camellia, to the white moonflowers tinged with purple (his favorites), and towards the forked trees where the two girls sit on the ground, their arms full of cut stems. As he approaches, he can hear them murmuring between each other. His plan is to take them back to the house before anyone knows they're gone, but his curiosity gets the better of him.

"What are you doing? Why did you uproot so many flowers?" He pauses. Technically, there's no need for him to get upset. The village meadow has never been a place where the flowers just belong to one person, but...

He looks around at the neat rows of blossoms.

To uproot them without purpose seems...

Instead of replying, Plesia pats the space beside her. "Don't get mad, okay? Just sit down so we can explain?" Eyes still narrowed, he stares down at the girls, trying to decide if he will give in. The words sit on the tip of his tongue.

_'__**No.**__ I'm going back to bed-after I tell Father what you've been up to.'_

He is tired of being yanked around by them.

His cousins... they're annoying. They're bothersome. They get him into trouble, _often_. They bring him more attention than he will probably ever be comfortable with. But... at the same time... as he stares down at them... he cannot imagine leaving them in the field alone. Rindell exchanges uneasy looks with her sister. "Duey?" Dedue resigns himself, dropping his shoulders.

His parents would probably be _more_ upset if he left them on their own, right...? And he is curious. He pops down on the ground beside them, crossing his arms as he eyes them seriously. "I'll stay."

Plesia laughs brightly. "See! No need to worry. I told you he would, Rin!" Looking at him in earnest, she holds up what appears to be a crooked woven half circle in her hands. "We need your help making flower crowns for Chiara and Auntie Renata." His eyes widen. _This_ is what they woke him up out of his sleep and dragged him out here for? Dedue says nothing, unsure of how to feel.

Rindell picks up where her sister left off. "Ever since Auntie and Chi went to the capital... we've been trying to think of a way to say thank you."

_Thank you?_ He lifts an eyebrow.

"Ma wrote us a letter, asking if we've been naughty." They exchange looks as Plesia continues. "We... haven't been _that_ naughty but... but..."

"But we thought that we should do something to make Chi and Auntie Renata happy. She'll be tired bringing back Gioia, right? So..." They look at each other, nodding firmly. "This is what we agreed on." He tries not to feel exasperated but he can't help his outburst.

"But why me?" He glowers his arms folded. "You just want to boss me around."

"No! Duey... you're good at making all kinds of things so we just thought..." Rindell trails off, touching the flowers lightly. "W-we asked Miss Charelle but she wouldn't teach us!" She sulks lightly.

Dedue drops his arms. "Serves you both right. You released frogs in her shop. Twice." _And __**I**__ had to help catch them._ Still, he sighs, then takes some of the flowers in hand. _I guess if it'll make Mother happy._ "...Mother likes it when Chiara and I make her crowns so... she'd probably like it a lot. I'll help you out." The girls cheer, briefly forgetting the hour as they do so. He holds up his hands. "Quiet. Unless you want to get in trouble."

They shush, still jostling each other in excitement as he takes the first few stems in hand.

"First..." He says, carefully holding up his chosen flower so they can see them in the bright moon. "You have to wrap the stems here." He sits in the midst of the flowers he loves so much, feeling warm as he watches his cousins practice making crooked loops, too large loops, too small loops-all in the quest of the perfect, head shaped crown.

For a moment, he can't help but think that this flower field is his favorite place in the whole entire world.

Plesia holds up her crown. "What do you think of _this?"_ He nods.

"Maybe add more vinethistle? It'll be stronger like that."

"Duey? Do you like this one?" He turns to Rindell and take the crown to inspect it. Placing it carefully on his head, he feels the weight and nods.

"It's good, I think. A little bit crooked but Mother will like it a lot."

They make crowns until they feel to sleepy to stay awake any longer, fingertips starting to numb from the constant twisting of the stems. They've enough crowns as this point for all eleven people in their family, and then some. He takes as many crowns as he can in his arm, looping some of them into his cousins arms as he stands the sleepy girls both up.

"C'mon. Let's go home."

He doesn't really want to leave. There is something about the smell of the dirt and the flowers and the wind that makes him feel right. Even his cousins... feel like they belong in this place that has, for so long, felt like his and his sister and his father and his mother's alone.

He leads them back along the worn path, through the meadows and hills and back to his home, his heart lighter and fuller than it has felt since they came.

Maybe the new additions to his family aren't so bad, he thinks.

...Until, upon returning to the house, he notes the candles lighting the windows. He can see his father's worried and pacing silhouette through them. As he suspected would happen, Taran probably woke him up, after all.

Dedue groans aloud and hopes the flower crowns are enough to save him from another lecture.

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**For my older readers, it's nice to finally have a chance to talk about his family! TBH I'm not all that certain if anyone will want to read about my OCs since this isn't romantic but... I decided to write these guys anyway. **

**My favorite of his cousins is Gracina, so I hope I can focus on her at least once this week!**

**Even though I love these characters, writing about them and knowing that they're dead is kind of difficult. Anyway! That kicks off my Dedue week!**


End file.
